Sunday, September 24, 2017

The weeks go by more quickly it seems. The semester is going well. I have had many students get sick and I think I will probably catch whatever is going on. I hope not though!

I had a fun day yesterday, we went out to eat then went and got ice cream then we rented the movie Wonder Woman and watched it. Technology did not work well with us but we finally got it to play. I must say the movie was not what I expected, but I loved it. It has a good message too. We are all powerful and we all can make a change in the world. Even though the world seems to be in commotion and we see wickedness all over, there is goodness in the world. Satan can tempt people and push them to do bad things, but people are good deep down. There is hope, love and courage that exists in so many of our hearts. And we can't give up on helping people even if they appear to be sinners.

I was supposed to go to Utah this weekend, but will go next weekend for general conference instead. I am looking forward to it. I have enjoyed translating the talks I have for general conference, and I don't have a lot this time, which is good and bad. I really tried to free time so I can translate but I was not assigned many talks. I am worried that they will need me last minute and then I will be crazy trying to finish the talks in time. I guess we will see. I have a Syrian student in one of my classes and
hopefully we can get him trained and he can help with general
conference. His English is great.

I especially loved translating my friend Sharon's talk. It is so great to see her up there speaking at the Women's session of conference. She is an amazing woman and I am glad she has been called to be the first counselor in the RS general presidency.

I got my computer fixed, I am still worried about it because a new laptop should not die at the beginning. But, now that I have all the programs that I need on it and have my files there I don't want to bother taking it back. It will be such a pain. So, I am waiting and hoping it continues to work. I like how small and light it is. It is very portable and turns to an iPad which is great for traveling. Last week we had the inauguration of President J. Eyring. His father, President Henry B. Eyring came and so did some other apostles and general authorities. I was sad that some students chose not to come. Our BYU-I center was mostly full (but not quite). We had at least 13,000 in attendance I would say. We have 18,000 students on campus, but some chose not to come. I mean how often do we get a new president at our university? I know we just got one last year, but that was a unique case. It amazed me that one building could have that many people, and within one second of Elder Oaks standing at the pulpit to speak all the 13,000 people who were there were quiet.

In the meeting some of the presidents of BYU-I were mentioned. As I sat there, I felt so grateful to work at this university. How many universities are there out there who have had apostles lead them? We are so blessed to be here. The privilege of feeling the spirit during meetings at the university is something you can't experience other places.

Graduation is the only time I feel that I am working at a usual university. Everything else about my job is so unique and different that it really does not feel like a normal job. As I serve and teach the students I feel my job is more than teaching. Sometimes I feel students come here because they were not accepted at BYU Provo. I hope they can come here because they want to be here and for the great institution this is.I am going to include a link below of the Inauguration if you have not seen it, please watch it. I especially encourage you to listen to the last hymn sung by the students (at the end). It is a favorite of mine, and the power in which they sung was unmistakable. You will feel the spirit as you hear they angelic voices. The link to the video of the Inauguration and the words to the hymn are below:Click here to watch the inauguration

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home

Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

Sunday, September 17, 2017

It was a good week. I met all my students and would be lucky if I can remember 10% of their names. I thought having them come to my office would help, but after meeting 50 of them the names start to mix together. I do have amazing students this semester and I think it will be a great semester.

It got cold here, well at least it does not feel like summer anymore. I also see leaves in my yard which tells that fall has started. Of course that means I have to collect all the leaves which does not make me happy. My yard needs a lot of work, and I don't know where to find the time.

As I visited with my students I noticed some of them love the snow, can't wait for it, and some say "what in the world am I doing in Rexburg?"

General conference starts earlier this year, and on Friday I complained because I had not received any of the talks I am assigned to translate. So, I got 3 talks that day. I am glad to finally get some and start translating. I don't want to be doing these at the last minute. I am looking forward to conference...I love this church and I love our leaders. They are amazing and it is such an honor to translate their talks. We are truly led by living prophets and apostles who love us and care about us.

My new computer stopped working the other day. It would go to a black screen and do nothing. My old computer turns on, but won't connect to the internet or do anything. And now after using my new computer I could tell how SLOW my old one was. I have no patience for it anymore! So, I am putting it away before I break it from frustration. I am grateful I have a laptop at work, so when both my home laptops decided to die, I went to work and brought that home.

Finally, after hours of holding on line with HP they got my new laptop to work. Now it just won't update which is stupid I think...I am still frustrated because I should not be having issues with a brand new computer. I am contemplating returning it, but that means being without a computer again. I think I am going to give it a second chance and try it for a week or so and see.

I don't have much to say...so I am going to stop talking and let you all go do something important with your time.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

We start the new semester tomorrow. We had a week of meetings. That may sound bad to someone who has never worked at BYU-I, but to me those meetings are the best part of my job. They always inspire me and generate new ideas in my mind about how to become a better teacher. They remind me of the great job I have and the amazing people I have to associate with every day. I am so blessed to teach at this great university. I often reflect on those good moments especially when there is a thick layer of ice on all the roads, when it is 20 degrees below zero and when I can't get my car out unless I spend time clearing the snow from my driveway.

Here are a couple of pictures I took on campus as I was walking up to my office the other day...

I took an old lady from our ward to the State Fair in Blackfoot last week. It was fun...but I think I made her too tired. Hopefully she is still alive. She said her son used to take her and she has not gone to the fair in so long. It was nice to spend time with her, it reminded me of all the good times I spent with my grandmother and made me feel guilty that I wasn't more aware of her needs.

They do a contest on the best "tomato" or best "pumpkin"...etc. Also, the best sheep, horse, ...etc. It was kind of interesting seeing all those vegetables winning prizes. I guess if you live in Idaho (a place full of farmers) you would expect things like that in a fair.

They also had contests for the largest vegetable. The below pumpkins don't look large but they are up to my waist and weigh more than I weigh for sure.

They also had a horse race. The Indian horse race was interesting because they switch horses after every loop and occasionally someone misses a horse and the horse would be on his own racing.

I am looking forward to this semester, but dreading it at the same time. I have 200 students and I am not sure how I am going to remember all their names. I also am teaching a new class which makes me a little worried because that is always a lot of work.

My heart goes out to all the people in the world who are suffering from natural disasters and war. May we keep everyone in our prayers.

Everything that happened this month clarified to me that the second coming is really close. I look forward to that day...But, at the same time I feel so unprepared. I am going to do better to prepare to meet my Savior and embrace him.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

I am sorry I didn't post anything last week. I wish I could say I was busy, but I wasn't. I didn't do much last week except prepare for classes and watch my Turkish show. Everyone died in the end! Miserable! I've been watching it for months now just to watch everyone die.

We start with meetings this week and classes start next week. I am starting to see some leaves on the ground indicating that summer is almost over. This makes me very sad. I kind of got used to going out in nature and enjoying the beauty all around me. I will soon be buried under the snow and will need to stay inside and stay warm. The snow is pretty in its own way I guess.

The eclipse was its own beautiful event. I am glad I was here in Rexburg to watch it. My nephew Dany also came up from California to Idaho to watch it. I got to visit with him and it was nice. What amazed me is that when the sun was getting covered by the moon, the horizon looked like it was a sunset. You could see light in the distance as if the sun was setting, but it wasn't. It was still there!My friend's brother took the cool picture with all the stages.

My other nephew, Peter, and his wife had a baby boy, Max, on the 20th of August, right before the eclipse. He is such a cutie. Here it looks like he's praying "Oh please don't let the world end tomorrow after the eclipse"...My little cute faithful "second" nephew...

I finally gave up and bought a new computer. It was expensive! I am not too impressed with it, but it is way better than my old one. It is light weight and little which makes it good to carry anywhere. I am hoping to get my green card next year and start traveling the world. I can dream can't I?

My friend just returned from Ghana and said that people there are so poor. There are so many all over the world that are suffering and we have no idea. We often forget how blessed we are compared to others.

Sometimes I hear others say to me "Wow, you had a hard life and you sacrificed a lot in order to go to church", even though I really didn't. There are so many out there that have difficult lives. My home teacher the other day told me about a man who was in his ward in the Philippines.

He said this man was 81 years old and he walked 9 hours each way to get to church!! That is 9 hours!! He would leave his house in the mountains at 3 a.m. to get to sacrament meeting at 12 noon. And he spoke in church every week.

I hope we can learn from this man's example and dedicate our lives to the Savior. I am hoping to do better this school year and do more to serve.